ok, not long ago you received a mail detailing all the interesting things that happen here day by day, or rather the fact that interesting things fail to happen on a daily basis which makes writing these reports increasingly difficult. anyway, this week was definitely better, it is only thursday and there is already two items i can write about.

i guess you guessed #1. the cwo 2. the guys probably saw on my face that i would not take no for an answer. that morning it definitely did not look as if i would be getting my license. the weather was terrible (no wind, but a lot of rain) and we decided to stay home. we called the sail school to cancel our ride, but the man on the phone managed to persuade us to come even in the face of adverse conditions (‘you still have to pay unless you cancel 48 hours in advance …’). and we did not regret it.
which just goes to show you can’t trust the weather: early morning: rain & no wind. then until noon: sun & nice wind. afternoon: clouds but no rain & lots of wind (even had to reef the main sail & set the storm fock).
in short: we had a great day out and i had the chance to practise the last lesson i still had to do: getting unstuck. actually we spent most of the morning finding a place where we could get stuck comfortably, i.e. without damaging the boat and with a good chance to get afloat again in an acceptable time frame. let us just say we managed, but it was more difficult than i thought. or maybe the instructor just ran the boat ashore very professionally, i don’t know (first time it ever happened).
anyway, i got the diploma now and can rent keelboats ‘not lighter than 200 kg and with a sail not bigger than 20 sqm under normal conditions – wind <= 4 beaufort and sheltered water’. we also asked how much the cat lessons would be but that turned out to be rather expensive so we let it be – for now. 😉

the other bit is a quite personal matter.
after long and careful consideration, based on personal experience, the well-meaning advice of my friend andy, and with the approval of my dear wife i have decided to trade in my monster (the duc, i will definitely keep the other one) for another bike.
how could that happen? well, i still think the duc is a great bike (‘it is not you, it is me …’ 😉 ), and i look back on about 5000 joyful kilometers (within 3 months) but there were a couple of issues that finally tilted the balance in favour of the new bike. maybe the most important fact is that the duc – probably being italian – definitely dislikes cold & wet climate. which immediately led to a conflict between us since i – being a rather calm person – definitely dislike standing at a red light constantly having to rev the engine to keep it from stalling. and definitely not with these otherwise perfectly good carbon cans on.
and it is only september yet! what do i do when it’s getting really cold?! then krisz was really complaining about the back seat. well … i tend to think she is right. just by looking at it. protecting one’s wife’s wellbeing is important, as any man will tell you, so this was actually a very strong argument. and then of course the new one has a fairing which pretty much eliminates wind pressure and maybe even some of the rain. would not hurt.
well, ok, there is also the small matter of the new bike – also a 600, but in line 4 cylinders liquid cooled 4 valve dohc – having a little bit more power. actually a factor 2. totally different engine characteristics, though, no power from low revs (actually nothing at all below 3000) then some quiet sort of power-drill sound from 5000 until 8000, then it starts pulling your arms. quite a bit. have not really tried it yet, i think i need a longer straight for that. well, no rush there. so, the beauty from varese will be gone on saturday (sorry, cristina, hope you don’t mind) and the new yzf 600 will be ready for a test drive. a longer one. with krisz (who really likes the seat cushion). um … anyone know why those japanese marketing guys called her ‘thundercat’? a bit embarrassing, i thought. i prefer yzf. although that again is a bit difficult to pronounce …

YZF 600 - new 3

i’ll let you know what she’s like as soon as i got a good chance to ride her.